In a recent media interaction, Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of leading American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has again taken a stance against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his antagonistic approach to the crypto industry.
The Coinbase CEO said that the regulator is on a lone crusade in the push for regulatory clarity in the country. He opines that the agency’s stance on the matter is different from that of Congress and other federal regulators.
During a Monday interview with a media entity, Armstrong suggested that Gary Gensler, SEC chief, is attempting to regulate the US digital asset industry with an anti-crypto approach and the reason for it is still unknown. He says:
I think the broad consensus view in the U.S. government is that there should be a clear rule book, and this is going to require new legislation from Congress. The SEC is a bit of an outlier here. There’s kind of a lone crusade, if you will, with Gary Gensler, the chair there, and he has taken a more anti-crypto view for some reason.
Furthermore, the Coinbase CEO stated that Gensler is not trying to regulate the crypto industry as much as he is curtailing it, with the number of lawsuits the SEC has filed. He added that the legal battles from the SEC have proved to be unhelpful for the industry.
In recent times, the SEC has been on an enforcement spree and has brought several crypto entities under its radar. The regulator also sent a Wells Notice to Coinbase indicating potential enforcement action. To this, the firm affirmably retaliated to the regulator highlighting the faults on their end.
The Coinbase executives opined that the regulator has been cracking down on crypto companies despite the absence of clear regulatory standards for crypto. Armstrong noted that the absence of clear regulation allowed Coinbase to get clarity from the courts, a move the exchange commenced last year.
As reported by Todayq News, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently ordered the SEC to respond to Coinbase’s rulemaking petition filed nine months ago within ten days.
Additionally, the Coinbase CEO opined that the exchange would not relocate its operations to offshore regions amid the regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. contrary to the news that spread previously. However, he mentioned that the company is keen on investing in areas like the U.K. and E.U., which have more balanced approaches to crypto. Quoting him:
Coinbase is not gonna relocate overseas. We’re always going to have a U.S. presence … But the U.S. is a little bit behind right now. I would say we’re seeing more thoughtful approaches. For instance, in the E.U. [European Union], they’ve actually already passed comprehensive crypto legislation.
In his interaction, the Coinbase CEO primarily targeted the US securities regulator for being biased and antagonistic to crypto entities. The SEC chief in recent times has outrightly rejected the idea of having more regulation for the crypto sector suggesting the existing ones to be enough to regulate the sector.
Testifying at the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Gensler said that rules for the cryptocurrency market already exist but that the industry is still “rife with noncompliance.” Notably, he didn’t stop there and on being summoned by the lawmakers for his approach to crypto regulation, he reiterated that the crypto market is well compatible with the existing securities laws and must come under the SEC’s jurisdiction.